But local Daniel Griffin said it was “the best idea I’ve probably ever heard”.

“It’s better if they aren’t hiding in dark alleyways and backstreets where all the thugs hang out.”

City of Yarra Mayor Amanda Stone said the council did not condone smoking “of any kind”.

“Wherever people are smoking, regardless of what they’re smoking, it’s going to have an impact on other people and we would not support that,” she said.

The council’s Municipal Public Health Plan has a list of strategies to reduce the rates of smoking in the community, especially in outdoor areas.

Mr Riley is asking for public donations to help fund the project that would “involve countless hours of mostly unpaid work by numerous people over many months”, he said on the Melbourne Free Cannabis Community website.